In modern society, a growing number of people frequently travel long distances, for both business and pleasure. For large corporations, private business owners, and the affluent, private air travel has become the preferred method of travel in these instances. In addition, many business people and groups of vacationers are upset about high costs and inconvenient and/or inflexible schedules of air travel on commercial aircraft, and therefore are looking more and more to fly on private aircraft or to charter aircraft. Some business executives have simply stopped taking domestic commercial flights due to the time, hassle and cost involved, particularly considering the value of the executives' time.
In the United States, there are almost 20,000 airports. Of these, over 5,000 are open to the public, but only 550 regularly accommodate regularly scheduled airline flights. Making use of these runways is a fleet of more than 210,000 aircraft, of which only 8,000 are used for regularly scheduled commercial flights. This means that approximately 200,000 actively registered private aircraft are flying in and out of nearly 20,000 airfields large and small, flown by the roughly 250,000 private pilots.
Whether the individual owns the private aircraft or leases it from an aircraft provider, or charters it, the amenities inside the aircraft are typically upscale. Modern private aircraft often include such amenities as leather ergonomic seating, custom designed interiors, gourmet meals, and high tech entertainment systems. As such, the passengers aboard many of these private aircraft have come to expect top of the line service and amenities.
While a large number of the 200,000 registered private aircraft may not be extravagant private jets, a shift is occurring at the airports which service these private aircraft towards more upscale and efficient operations. For example, most airports provide Fixed Based Operators (FBOs) which are service providers which offer aircraft services such as fueling and de-fueling, aircraft parking, tie-down and hangar storage, aircraft and instrument service, aircraft towing, baggage handling, and cleaning. In addition, FBOs commonly provide accommodations, such as lounges and catering services, coordinate transportation such as limousine pick up, and a wide variety of related and non-related services.